New police contract goes to vote

Thursday

Nov 22, 2012 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - The city's police union will begin voting next week on a new contract, raising the possibility of finally ending a contentious battle between officers and City Hall at a time of financial uncertainty and high crime in Stockton.

Scott Smith

STOCKTON - The city's police union will begin voting next week on a new contract, raising the possibility of finally ending a contentious battle between officers and City Hall at a time of financial uncertainty and high crime in Stockton.

There is some doubt that 335 members of the Stockton Police Officers' Association will buy into the new terms offered by the city.

"It's not a guarantee," said Sgt. Kathryn Nance, president of the labor group. "They could vote no on it very easily."

Nance declined to give specifics of the contract hammered out late Monday between the city and the union's chief negotiators. Citing two positive elements of the proposed agreement, she said the contract may help stem the tide of senior officers leaving the department, and it maintains pension benefits for officers.

"There are things beneficial to our membership," Nance said. "And there are things that are negative to our membership."

Nance said it was her job to present the facts to union members, and they will ultimately decide whether to approve the contract.

Union members will begin casting votes Tuesday with the result due by Dec. 4. If the contract passes with a simple majority of votes, the City Council would be asked to finalize it Dec. 11.

The police union is the last holdout of the city's nine labor groups to renew a contract since Stockton filed for bankruptcy June 28. The city has yet to broker deals in bankruptcy court with creditors who stand to lose hundreds of millions they invested in Stockton.

But the contract may help the city retain and recruit its officers working the streets and struggling to combat a record-high crime spree.

As a stark indication of the city's problem, Stockton police detectives are investigating the city's 66th homicide of 2012, more than any year. The city had 58 in 2011, then an all-time high.

Drawing up a contract to vote on marks progress in what has been a tense relationship between the union and city leaders. This degraded last year to name-calling and hit a low when the union bought the house next door to City Manager Bob Deis.

It is also unclear if the new contract will void the lawsuit the union filed against the city, seeking to win back up to $13 million in unpaid wages and benefits the city took away while imposing cuts in recent deficit years.

"Other baggage will hopefully be resolved with this," said Mayor Ann Johnston, who declined to discuss the contract in detail. "This is good. At least there is something to present to the membership."

Johnston was not ready to celebrate. In 2011, the city's firefighters voted down a contract. The difference then was that the rank and file were asked to approve cuts forced on them by City Hall. It wasn't delivered by their negotiating team.

By contrast, the police contract to be voted on came out of months of negotiations. Talks began in April when the city launched confidential mediation before eventually filing for bankruptcy June 28, making it the nation's largest city to seek Chapter 9 protection.

If the contract is adopted, it will last through mid-2014.

Councilman Dale Fritchen said he welcomed the progress toward reaching a new contract with police.

"The more we get agreement, the better it is for the city," he said. "We don't gain anything by fighting with people."